This is our blog. We write about life in the Florida Keys. It involves a lot of food, life with animals, and other stuff too.

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Saturday, January 28, 2017

MiniMoFo "NEW!" .... come on baby, light my fire (cider)

Yay! We have a prompt for January and it's "NEW!" Anything new! We have free reign to do any vegan topic, as long as it's something new to us. Easy peasy!

This time of year keeps us hopping around here. How have you been? We've been doing great, the weather is glorious, the animals are healthy, and overall we are feeling pretty good too. For those participating in "MiniMoFo" themes this year (you know my plans are to hit up every single theme.... so far I've not missed any!) When I saw the theme "NEW!" I thought about so many possibilities. When push came to shove, I decided on taking a little road trip to our perfect health food store on our tiny island which is called Good Food Conspiracy. You already know all about them because we've done videos, photos, stories, and had so many laughs here together courtesy of Good Food. You also might remember the fact that one of the top 3 reasons I agreed to move to Big Pine "for a year" (ahahhahahahah, a YEAR!) was because of that little store. Good Food has been on the island, in the same location, for well over 30 years at this point. I'm not really sure everyone can grasp how epic that fact is (over 30 years) unless you've spent some time living in the Keys. So many people come and go so quickly down here, and the same can be said for businesses. There's an ebb and flow to living and working in a resort destination such as the Keys, and some people clearly are not cut out for that. For those of us that ARE cut out for that, we have the backbone of our community.... small businesses like Good Food.

About 3 years ago (give or take) sometime after Superstorm Sandy destroyed so much of the East Coast (especially Jersey), and then the fire on the Shore boardwalk (again.... Jersey), a woman named Debbie Quinn came to the Keys to heal from the disaster at the behest of a friend. Debbie is an herbalist, a REAL herbalist. She's also an aromatherapist (her company is Blue Moon Herbals), a REAL aromatherapist. I've never met anyone like Debbie before. I remember the first time I met her too... it was in the garden at Good Food at a New Year's event. There were healers, vendors, merchants, food, music and fun. And Debbie was there with her booth selling some of the most beautiful essential oils I'd ever been privileged to experience. We chatted, I bought things from her for a friend in need of healing, and called it a day. Then I began to see more and more of Debbie at the store. Now she's essentially the resident herbalist at Good Food. Between Debbie and Marney (we've spoken at length about Marney, she's a miracle) we have 2 of the best healers I've ever EVER met in my life, right here practically in my backyard.

One of the most wonderful things that Debbie has brought to Good Food is her recipe for fire cider. Fire cider is a folk remedy for many ails including inflammation, which is my personal nemesis. One day not too long ago, I walked into Good Food on a day they were making many jars of fire cider. I wasn't sure what it was, but as soon as I heard it was made with apple cider vinegar as the base, I was all in.

"Set me up with a shot of that fire cider!" BOOM, down the hatch!

Ooooo.... little warm tingles all over in just moments!

So, today for "NEW!" we are at the Good Food Conspiracy with Debbie and Meghan (who makes the cider, she's absolutely adorable). Fire cider is no longer new to me, but it probably will be to you, and I honestly can say if you come to the Keys you MUST stop into Good Food and add a shot of fire cider to your order, you will not regret it.

Come, watch and learn.

There ya have it.... my friends from the Good Food Conspiracy making fire cider. That's our "NEW!" for January, and of course we'll be back right here in February for whatever comes next, along with a few random other posts from yours truly in between.

Until next time, get your fire cider on. Now go forth and let your epic vegan side shine!